Maybe Maybe not
by nhimcon
Summary: "Greetings, Uchiha Itachi," the man says. "I am the Sage of the Six Paths. I have a mission for you." Presented with a chance, Itachi grabs it.


**_Disclaimers_ : _Don't own. Wiki for more info_**.

 _ **Summary:**_ "Greetings, Uchiha Itachi," the man says. "I am the Sage of the Six Paths. I have a mission for you." Presented with a chance, Itachi grabs it. He will change everything, make it right, stop the coup, join Anbu, protect the village, kill Orochimaru, infiltrate the Akatsuki, deal with an annoying disease with his eyes aching whenever it could, all the while finding the time for bed time stories and keeping monsters away from little Sasuke. Pfft, this is gonna be as easy as sunny side up eggs.

 _ **Warning** (for the entire fic)_: probably irregular and extremely slow updates, grammar mistakes and limited vocabulary. Lame fight scene too. Lots and lots of ItaSasu brotherly goodness. Probably a drop of angst if I do it right. Oh, and probably some language here and there.

* * *

White. The first thing he sees as he opens his eyes. White. An infinity of white. And an old man. With white hair…and white attire. Thanks God the weird looking stick is black.

"Greetings, Uchiha Itachi," the man says. "I am the Sage of the Six Paths. I have a mission for you."

Itachi, dazed as he is, is confused. "And what would that mission be?"

"To save the world," answers the Sage, like that explain _anything_.

"I'm afraid I must ask you to elaborate."

"Very well. You see, the world is coming to an end. My sons' incarnations, whom are your brother Uchiha Sasuke-" Itachi frowned. "-and Uzumaki Naruto, has failed to save the world. They were killed by Uchiha Madara. At this rate, my mother Kagura will resurrect, and then, the world will truly meet it's doom. Of course I can revive them and give them yin-yang power to seal her, but I have put my sons through so much already… and those brats always cost more trouble than they worth anyway," the last words are murmured with a grimace, his tone much like a parent too tired to deal with their children's antics. "So, Uchiha Itachi, I will give you a choice, a second chance, and to accept or refuse, is your decision to make."

"A second chance?" Itachi repeats.

"A second chance," the Sage nods. "I am a god. I have unfathomable power. I can level mountains and dry the sea, and even recreate the world if I so wish it. And that, is what I plan to do, a jutsu that will put the world back to when the trouble all started, much like returning everything to the past. However, this time around, you will have the power to stop it. What do you think?"

"It's an excellent mission. But why choose me to do it? Why not do it yourself?" the young man enquires.

"Look around you, Itachi. What do you see?"

Itachi takes a breath, contemplating the question.

"Void," he answers.

"Exactly. Everything is with a price. Being a god makes me powerful, but that power even though great, has it's limits. You see, this void is a holy ground, an unreal place. And everything within it, is unreal. You, me, this white, are unreal. Your influence doesn't have a meaning. You can touch the dead's and you can feel the livings, but it doesn't matter. Not without paying a price."

"And to revive me, the price would be… the changing of the world?"

"Yes, but not quite. You're the price for changing the world. Well, part of the price. A human's life, or death, is always worth something."

Itachi gets it now. The God can't leave this place, not without an undoubtedly high price. But what would that price be? And he asks the God so.

"Nothing big as big as you seem to think, just a reduction of power. It is simply not my place to meddle, so I didn't. Unable to, actually."

"So you need a mortal," Itachi nods, "what about side-effects. This jutsu seems like a higher level Izanagi. If Izanagi makes sharingan users go blind, shouldn't this jutsu do even more damge."

"No, for a mortal maybe, but I'm a god. To you, aside from stress and perhaps occasional eye-sore caused by the strain magenkyou puts on eyes,…that is, if you want to keep magenkyou, there isn't anything worth noting. You will be doing me a big favor, so rest assured that I won't cause any harm to you. Although,…since it's you, living that life again may seem like torture."

Itachi thinks about his life. Pain, so much pain. Betrayal and grief and guilt and- and…. _ **Sasuke**_. Thoughts of his brother lead to thoughts about his childhood, of the happy time he lived to protect and love, with pride and loyalty. There was that time when he first held Sasuke, his brother being born only a few years after the war. After so much deaths and destruction, Sasuke's existence was almost magical. He remembered how he swelled with the need to protect, to guild that little ball of life through the cruel world. And then he went and did what he did. He lied and deceived, as if taking parents away wasn't enough, he tore Sasuke away from what bright future his friends and comrades might give him. Because he was selfish, so selfish and hypocritical, that he used Sasuke for his escape. It was a nice plan when he first started, traumatize the boy, leave the village and watch over him from afar, traumatize him again to make sure he remembers, and traumatize him _again_ when Orochimaru's curse seal comes into the picture, and for Sasuke to finally relieve him from his dreadful existence. Only to realize later that there were Tobi and Naruto, and that out of the two he had gave Sasuke to the devil. A second chance? Torture? Oh no, no way. If he had a chance, and he _does_ , then he would gladly relive any day of that life, fix every mistake, and this time, it will be right!

"I- this mission, I will gladly accept."

"Good," the Sage nods, satisfied. "I can see that you have a lot of plans, involving your clan, I assume?" At Itachi's nod, he continues, "that is good, as I wouldn't want a clan of Sharingan bearer exterminated, but you can't forget your real mission Itachi. Prevent Uchiha Madara from being revived, and in case you fail, do everything in your power to stop him and Zetsu."

Itachi jerks, startled. "What does Zetsu have to do with this?"

"Zetsu is my mother's spawn, Itachi. As I said before, my mother, the great goddess Kagura, can come back to Earth any moment now, and Zetsu is the one who planned it all."

"Then what about Madara. There was a person who claimed to be Uchiha Madara, were they the same person?"

"…that is for you find out, Itachi," his voice takes on a voice too high and holy to be normal.

"You don't know," the raven stated simply. The almighty God flinched.

"I cannot keep an eye for every single movement the mortals make, how should I know?"

Because he should, or shit like holy mothers coming back to life is gonna happen, Itachi wants to say.

"Anything else? Do I need to be discreet?" he asks instead.

"Yes, as discreetly as possible."

"But I need assistance, a few would be fine, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, a few only."

"Will I be writing down reports?"

"No, seeing as you'll only see me in half-dead situation, reports are useless. Or so I hope. I choose you because the two fated to save the world are currently half-dead, so I expect nothing of the sorts from you."

"I understand. But now you have mention it, may I know why I was chosen? Surely Naruto-kun would be a phenomenal world-altering hero. Or even Shisui. He should know better this time. Or Nagato."

The Sage represses a sigh. So many questions. "Naruto will be too young to do anything, Nagato lacks the mind and the sensitivity. Shisui… Who is he again?"

Itachi feels offended that the Sage just putting down his descended friend like that, but this is a God, and to a god, Shisui's heroic sacrifice isn't something of significant. Itachi is a logical man.

"But I will die early. I fear for the worst, in case I can't stop Madara, and I won't be there to stop Zetsu if it does come down to that. I could warn the boys, but still…"

The Sage hits him with the stick, and it _hurts_. The staff has two ends, one a dull crescent and one a hole with six loops. _Why_ did he choose the loopy one? So that it'll hurt more? He can feel the pain ringing through his body.

"It pains me to hurt my champion, trust me, but I have to, Itachi. Because you were being a complete fool! You were diagnosed with Tuberculosis-" Itachi frowned. He knows that. "-and it only took two weeks, probably less, and a good dose of medicine and you're healthy again. It's you running around refusing to rest and taking flimsy medicine that made you so miserable."

Well, in his defense, he was only waiting for Sasuke anyway. And the Akatsuki was always so _demanding_. He nods anyway. "I will be careful this time then."

"Alright then. Brace yourself, Itachi Uchiha, this is going to be rough."

Itachi nods.

The man holds out the weird-looking scepter and release it. It floats and glow, the Sage's hands clasp into seals: Tiger, Dog, Snake, Ram.

"IZUMO NO JUTSU!"

* * *

 _A/N_ : The hand seals and this jutsu is completely my creation, so sorry if it doesn't make sense at all. The hand seals are because Tiger often associates with Fire release, Dog with Water, Snake Earth and Woods release. You know, the five elements and stuff (but I didn't get steel). Ram is just random. I like rams, they look funny in a…masculine kind of way. Izumo came from the Japanese myth of Izumo cycle. It just have hero and Susanoo's descendant so I thought it fits.


End file.
